Wishes
by Arnine
Summary: Akira Koizumi had plenty of wishes. Occasionally, she would dream of flying, or of becoming the most popular girl in her elementary school. Her wishes were selfish, just as a little girl's tended to be. Sometimes, though, she would look in her classmates' eyes, and rather than flying or popularity, she simply wished for them to be happy.
1. Chapter 1

Currently, there were less than 20 people in Kyoya's notebook under the tab 'watch closely'. Most were the obvious choices; children whose parent's business was still new and fluctuating, those who seemed to have the potential of growing close to another powerful heir, or ones he thought his father may soon request Kyoya to befriend.

Of course, there was an outlier, just as there always was. This time, her name was Akira Koizumi.

The girl had only begun attending Ouran a year ago, at nine years old. From what he could find, as she was a grade below him and thus he had to gather his information second hand, the other students had been thrilled to have a new face in their class, before the novelty wore off and the girl was left on her own. The reasons why, though, tended to vary wildly from person to person. Some claimed the girl glared at them whenever they got too close, while others said she only spoke of boring commoner things, and even more said she simply never spoke at all. Despite that, the overwhelming response when asked about Akira Koizumi was: "Huh? Who?"

This intrigued Kyoya like nothing else. Mysteries were so very uncommon in this school, and he didn't plan on letting one go to waste.

So here he was, attempting to discreetly watch her from across the cafeteria. She sat in the corner by herself, dark red hair blocking off most of her face from his view. She picked at her homemade lunch—an incredibly uncommon thing in Ouran. A few minutes later, Kyoya began walking over to the empty table, lunch tray in hand, attempting to make his posture as casual as possible. It was the exact opposite of everything that had been instilled in him since birth, but holding himself as if he was practically royal wasn't exactly the way to gain the trust of a commoner.

The forced casualty paid off, he knew, when Akira noticed him approaching and only shrunk into herself a little bit. Just that small motion gave him more information than he had gathered from her classmates; the girl was obviously timid and did not appreciate attention being drawn to herself. Smile, he thought to himself, but not too strongly. Make her think of you as a sort of a kindred soul—she'll open up faster that way.

"Hello," he said, the fake smile plastered on his face. "Is this seat taken?"

Akira's eyes grew comically wide, and he might have even laughed if he wasn't intending to come across as gentle as possible. She stared at him for a few more seconds, her mouth opening and closing in an attempt to find words before she simply gave up and shook her head vigorously. Timid indeed, he thought, smiling again as he sat down.

"Sorry to bother you. I had a disagreement with my friends," he reminded himself to look as sheepish as possible here, he had to come across as genuine, "and needed to get away. You don't mind, do you?"

"O-Of course not, Ootori-san," the girl said. He found it amusing how she tried to fix her own posture around him and attempted to appear much braver than she obviously was.

"Oh? You know me?" Kyoya said, unable to keep the genuine curiosity from his voice. He couldn't claim he had expected that—it seemed almost out of character. With the claims of her isolation, he assumed her to be the type with little to no knowledge of the rest of Ouran.

"The kids in class t-talk about you a lot." She swallowed noticeably, still holding her head up high and attempting to hide the tremor in her voice. Interesting. If he had heard about him, that either meant she was more sociable than he thought, or she had a habit of listening to conversations going on around her. He was leaning towards the latter.

A fake laugh from Kyoya. "Ah. I can't say that surprises me. I seem to be a center of attention for many of our peers." He made sure to sneak the word peers and our into there, trying to make the two of them seem more equal than they were.

Akira slightly relaxed, a small smile spreading across her lips. "That's an understatement. Some of them are obsessed with you. 'Ootori-san did this, Ootori-san did that.' It can get annoying." The second she finished speaking, her face immediately reddened as she realized what she had said, and she ducked her head, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Ah, s-sorry. Not like it's any of my business."

Kyoya purposefully waved it off. "No, speak your mind. Not like you're wrong." It felt wrong to speak so casually. "You only started attending Ouran recently, right? If you don't mind me asking, why is that? Most of the students here are in the school system by the time they can walk." It was worth asking, even if he already knew the answer.

Her face paled, and she began picking at her food, lowering her eyes to the table. "Oh, m-my parents… um, they won the lottery a little over a year ago. M-Mom put me into the best school she could right away."

And there was the real reason Kyoya was interested in the timid girl. Her parents were incredibly new to the world of wealth, and might be easily convinced to… invest in certain areas because of it. He needed every advantage he could get, and he had already nearly exhausted manipulating the other heirs for the time being.

Or maybe he just wanted a change. Someone who hadn't been trained in how and when to smile since before they were enrolled in preschool, someone who didn't calculate every move they made. While Kyoya was no doubt one of the best at the game, he was in no way the only one who played it.

"Is that why you're always on your own?" he asked with a gentle smile. The girl flushed again immediately.

"Sorta?" she said with a questioning tone to her voice. "I mean, everyone here is super nice and everything, but it's nearly impossible to talk with them. We just don't have anything in common, and everyone's personalities are so big! I sort of just end up shoved into the background. Which is fine!" she added in a rush. "I like being alone."

He laughed. She was right, it was nearly impossible to find a personality in this school that wasn't enormous. It was understandable that someone like her, one who isn't open until they begin to feel comfortable with someone, would be easily overshadowed. "We have that in common," he simply said. "I enjoy solitude as well." It was the first time in his conversation with her that he found himself telling the truth.

She smiled, but didn't end up replying, eating some more of her food instead. A few minutes of silence passed between them, and for once Kyoya didn't feel pressed to keep the conversation flowing. There was no need.

For the rest of the week, he spent his lunches in much the same way. They talked for a few minutes about various things, with Kyoya casually worming in a few subtle mentions of how wise it was to invest, and he noticed the girl beginning to stutter less and less. He tried to ignore the slight feeling of guilt growing in his stomach.

Their conversations were... different. There was no constant pressure, no careful maneuvering. He found himself lies becoming fewer and further between. He mainly let her talk about what she wished, which varied from 'that super awesome new anime episode on TV! Did you see how _giant_ the robot was?' to 'today's class was actually interesting, but everyone was talking over it'.

"Ootori-san?" she said one day, her voice dropping slightly. She paused from her meal, her eyes wavering with uncertainty.

"Yes?"

"Why are you still here?"

There was a moment, just a small, minuscule moment, where he felt the mask slip before he put it back in place with practiced ease.

"What do you mean, Akira-san?" Add a bit of tentative curiosity to your voice, keep your eyes slightly wider than normal.

The red haired girl simply blinked, a conflicted expression resting on her face before she swallowed, and looked up to meet his eyes. "I have nothing to give you," she said, her voice more even than it ever had been in their brief acquaintance.

Ah, he thought, I may have underestimated this girl.

And so he blinked, finding himself, oh so unexpectedly, at a loss for words.

The mask was gone, now. His hands clenched around his lunch tray, and he began to stand up. "You're right," Kyoya simply said, his voice hollow. "I almost forgot."

He almost forgot.

He turned around and made his way to those who actually had something to offer him.

* * *

Weeks passed. He had been welcomed back to the most exclusive lunch table with nothing more than a few speculative glances. If his classmates noticed when he peered over his shoulder to find that particular red-haired girl, they didn't say anything.

Sometimes, he noticed, Akira was actually joined by a few other people at lunch time. It seemed that since his venture into her bubble, her classmates had once again become interested in the girl that Kyoya Ootori had given his time too.

She smiled and laughed on those days.

Kyoya supposed he could have stuck around her a little longer, maybe even should have, but he felt as if he was treading a dangerous line around her. Manipulating those who also played the game was interesting (fun, even) at times, but manipulating those who only looked up to him with wide, trusting eyes gave him an unpleasant feeling in his stomach that he would like to avoid. He didn't know if he could keep lying with a smile after she saw through him so easily the first time.

The days stretched, and he began noticing just how boring these conversations at lunch were. Always about the same things, always with the polite smiles, always with the subtle lies and embellishments. The boredom came, and Kyoya felt more frustrated with the mask than he had since he was a young child, being taught when and where to smile, which words to say and which too not.

Kyoya went home that day, more exhausted and annoyed with his peers than he should have been. The student council meeting had dragged on, about silly and inconsequential things with easy answers as always, and he only slightly felt like screaming as he made his way inside.

As he entered the house, greeted by the bowing of several servants, he heard tumbling steps coming from the floor above.

"Kyoya!" A high voice shattered the illusion of peace surrounding the house. Kyoya looked up to see his older sister leaning over the balcony, a large grin stretching over her face. "Come 'ere, come 'ere, come 'ere!" she called, gesturing wildly.

Kyoya sighed, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He would never admit that his sister's overbearing presence was more of a relief than anything at the end of a long day. He kicked off his shoes, the servants rushing to put them away, making his way to his sister's bedroom.

"What is it, Fuyumi?" he called, peeking his head into the doorway.

Immediately, his sister began twirling, showing off what Kyoya recognized as a new dress. "Isn't it beautiful? Akimoto-san insisted on getting it for me!"

"The marriage meeting went well, then?"

Her smile briefly faltered. She was only twenty, but already being pressured into marriage by their family. If Fuyumi had a better standing with their father, maybe things would have been different, but she was never meant for the corporate life the rest of them; had failed at it, really. Their father's solution was to get her out of the house as soon as possible.

"Fantastic," she said, and he ignored the strain in her voice. "He was a perfect gentleman." Kyoya nodded. There was a stretch of silence, before his older sister plopped down on the bed with a sigh, looking up to the ceiling. "Boring, though," she amended. "They're all so boring."

She patted the spot next to her, so Kyoya sat, looking at Fuyumi wearily from the corner of his eye.

"Sometimes," she said softly, "I wish things were different."

So did he, Kyoya realized.

Without a word, Kyoya followed his sister's example, leaning backwards until his back hit the bed. Fuyumi let out a small chuckle. "Long day?" she asked, voice soft.

"Longest," he answered.

Silence stretched again, but it was never uncomfortable. For as long as Kyoya could remember, they had found solace in each other, in moments like these. The second born child, who could never live up to their father's expectations for her, and the fourth, with no expectations placed on him but his own. His older brother's would accomplish everything, after all.

"Akito told me to tell you he wouldn't be home for dinner again today," Kyoya commented. "Father called him in to help with work again."

"Dinner's keep getting smaller, huh? It's just you and me," she said with a small smile.

Kyoya didn't like to think of the day when it was just him at that suffocatingly large dinner table.

As if she could read his expression, his sister swept her arms around him, pulling Kyoya close and tucking his head under her chin. Fuyumi was almost never overly touchy with him, so Kyoya thought that the marriage meeting might have went much worse than she let on.

"Sometimes," she said again, "I wish you were born to a different family, baby brother."

Kyoya knew what she meant. She didn't want him to be part of a family where you didn't see your mother or father for weeks at a time, where you were encouraged to see your siblings as competition rather than family, encouraged to view those other than you as pawns rather than people.

And though he would never admit it to himself, or to anyone else... sometimes he wished too.

* * *

He went to school the next day, his mind reeling with wishes and changes. He stalked through the hallways without a smile as normal, and for once, his classmates decided to leave him alone rather than tag along behind him. A tuft of red hair peeked out from the crowd of students.

He knew who it was even before he could see her face.

Their eyes met,

and she smiled at him.

After a week of those smiles, he wondered what it would be like to get more than one a day.

After two weeks and another failed marriage meeting, he considered the consequences of what socializing with someone like her would mean.

After a month of seeing neither his mother nor father, and dining at a table where both occupants tried to ignore the extra plates of food with no one to eat them, he moved to sit with her at lunch again.

When she looked up, her eyes were wide, surprised, still chewing on a piece of food as she stared at him. But once again, she smiled. And she opened her mouth, the words tumbling out-

And he wondered once again what he was doing-

And she wondered once again why he was here-

Yet she said with that same damnable smile on her face

"Ootori-san... it's good to see you."


	2. Chapter 2

If there was one thing Akira Koizumi's mother had taught her above all others, it was to dance.

If Akira cried, her mother would grasp the child's hands in her own, and twirl her around, humming a tune only known to the two of them, until the young girl's sobs shifted to hesitant giggles. She would pick her small daughter up in her arms, and hold Akira up high, swaying back and forth. Dancing had been a part of her life as long as she remembered, and even after everything changed since that one day, it remained a constant.

The humming was only replaced by a radio; the too close ceiling changed to one where Akira could look up, up, up, until the ceiling would blur, and Akira would feel she was staring into the endless sky rather than the ceiling.

Even when her father started disappearing for days at a time, even when Akira went from wearing the same dirty dress for days straight to being able to play dress up for hours long, dancing always remained.

Winning the lottery was a mysterious thing to Akira.

Money had never meant much to her, just like any child, but Akira was smart enough to tell that the same did not hold true for her parents. She remembered the day; her parents screamed and laughed and hugged, and her father even joined her and her mother's dance. Her parents got her the biggest cake she had never seen, even though her eighth birthday had been two months ago, and they all ate it together.

Within the week, they had moved. Akira missed her old house — it was small but cozy. She always knew where her mom would be, as there were really only two rooms, and the three of them were always close together. They slept on their futons, all in the same room, and sometimes if her father was home in time, he would hold her hand as they slept, and brush her hair back from her face.

The new house didn't have any of that. It had long, endless hallways, and rooms that stretched, and beds in separate rooms rather than futons. No one held her hand as she drifted into sleep, or stayed with her through the night. But her parents were happy, and they almost never yelled anymore, so Akira didn't complain.

Akira would never forget how different it felt to wake up alone, though.

She finished up the rest of the school year in her old school, the one her mother told her wasn't good enough for her, not her precious snowflake, and then began her fourth year of school at the prestigious Ouran academy, where she was to remain until she graduated high school.

And if Akira was lonely at her new school, where she tried so hard but could never truly connect with her peers, if she ever wondered why this life was considered 'better', if she ever longed for the sense of belonging she felt before the change, she never said a word.

After all, no one asked.

* * *

The first few months at Ouran were lonely.

Her first few weeks were spent with her classmates fawning over her, their curiosity seeming endless. They were fascinated by her life ( _"Your house only had two rooms?!" "Wait, so even now you don't have any servants? Who cooks and cleans?" "What did you even_ _ **eat**_ _?")_ and the questions exhausted her, but she always answered them with a smile. (" _Well, yes, but that's all we really needed." "My mom does, but I help out a lot too!" "Um… food?")_

When the conversation started shifting from her to the latest changes in stocks, and the economy of Japan, she felt herself falling behind. Akira had never been the brightest student, but she knew that even if she had been the best student in her old school she wouldn't have fit in here. These children had received tutors since they could walk, were already being groomed to become leaders in their own right, and she was only Akira. They girl who hid behind her hair when she didn't know how to respond, who dreaded reading in front of the class because she knew she would stutter at least once.

So when she slowly noticed them leaving her behind, she didn't protest. She let herself fade into the background once again.

And then, one day, a boy named Kyoya Ootori sat across from her at lunch.

And kept sitting there.

He left, when she had mentioned that she had nothing to give him, but then he came back.

So Akira counted her blessings, that this boy wasn't leaving her alone once again, and she never mentioned it again. After all, Akira was not book smart, but she was far from unintelligent. So she didn't mention the exhaustion she saw in his face sometimes around the other children, she didn't mention that his intention were quite obvious when you looked in his eyes long enough, and that spending time with her provided nothing to him.

And with Kyoya sitting across from her, life seemed just a little less daunting.

* * *

 **A/N: short chapter here, but it's more meant to serve as a transition for a change in the writing style that should be coming up next chapter. These chapters have both been much more passive, and are mainly just an introduction to the weird and slightly dysfunctional dynamic that is Akira and Kyoya. Fair warning here- this story is going to be _incredibly_ slow burn. It's going to be a while before Hikaru and Kaoru are introduced, and then even longer before Tamaki, and then longer until Mori and Honey, and then longer until Haruhi. And before any of that, we're gonna have to get into hella character development territory for both Akira and Kyoya, cause in case you didn't pick up on it from the past chapters, Kyoya and Akira are both being butts and using each other to help avoid their own problems, rather than being actual friends to each other or actually, ya know, facing the problems, so that'll have to change before stuff happens. ...And I know I said Haruhi will be introduced last, but that's probably not actually gonna happen, because I adore Haruhi too damn much and I don't think I'll be able to stand writing an Ouran fic for that long without her, so don't be surprised if I somehow work her in earlier. **

**This author's note is way too long. I need to stop.**

 **Um, please review! I would love to hear from you guys! Let me know what you liked, and what you didn't, and what you would like to see. Pretty please.**


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